'At a time when there was little awareness of world music, playing western tunes on eastern instruments like the flute and the dholak, blending vocal polyphony with Indian folk and contemporary styles, Salilkaku created a new musical genre in Bengal called Gana Sangeet.'
The Maha Vikas Aghadi of the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar, and the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Wednesday announced to contest 85 seats each in Maharashtra assembly elections even as deliberations to seal a final seat-sharing pact are still underway.
On the 83rd anniversary of the Quit India movement, Utkarsh Mishra recalls the conditions under which the Congress, led by Mahatma Gandhi, launched the final struggle for independence.
While the MNS had fielded 125 candidates, the VBA had 200 candidates in the fray.
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Rahul Narwekar was on Monday elected unopposed as the speaker of the 15th Maharashtra legislative assembly.
The alliance leaders are getting together for the third round of the brainstorming session in Mumbai, after Patna and Bengaluru, to chalk out their common campaign strategy to take on the NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Top leaders of the Opposition's Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance met in Mumbai late Tuesday night with indications that the seat-sharing arrangement for the November 20 Maharashtra assembly elections has been finalised.
Former Union minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that there is no need for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to declare a chief ministerial face ahead of the state assembly elections.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance on Saturday retained power in Maharashtra, pocketing a whopping 230 of the 288 assembly seats, as the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi's dream of wresting power fizzled, with the opposition combine managing to garner just 50 seats.
During Operation Kagar, 350 Naxalites have been killed so far, including some of the movement's top leaders.
Friendly fights, however, are more complicated for the MVA, especially since smaller parties who are part of the INDIA bloc are also in the mix.
To keep their MLAs together, political parties are organising dinner meetings and arranging hotel stays for them ahead of the council elections, which are taking place just three months ahead of the assembly polls in the state.
The delay in finalising a seat allocation agreement among the Maha Vikas Aghadi allies for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections has ignited concerns among smaller constituents as the nomination process commenced on Tuesday.
Ahead of the crucial third round of discussions, the opposition INDIA bloc on Wednesday exuded confidence that it would provide a formidable alternative to bring political change in the country and asserted that it has several prime ministerial faces against BJP's only one.
All eyes are now on the Sena factions, led by CM Shinde, backed by the BJP, and his predecessor Uddhav Thackeray, and their performance in the coastal belt in the November 20 polls.
The Meerut Conspiracy Case was aimed at curbing communist influence in India. However, it fueled nationwide sympathy, shaping the course of leftist politics in the country.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said he will back any candidate announced by the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar as Maha Vikas Aghadi's chief ministerial face.
Pawar also said it is the moral responsibility of the major Opposition parties in Maharashtra to protect in the state assembly polls the interests of smaller allies, which were part of the coalition in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The alliance would announce a coordination committee, which could be of 11 members from principal opposition parties.
'The reason I am not anxious about the opponent facing me in the front (Ajit Pawar) is because of who is standing behind me like a rock (Sharad Pawar).'
Maharashtra, including the Ramdas Athawale-led Republican Party of India faction, for alleged failure to submit income tax returns and audited accounts between 2005 and 2014.
The Sharad Pawar-led NCP is just two short of the Sena's tally in the Upper House of the state legislature.
The four-day old Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government will face the floor test on July 4 during the special two-day session of the Legislative Assembly beginning on Mumbai Sunday.
'The regime -- and particularly the home ministry under Amit Shah -- have sought to suppress and destroy these struggles through intimidation, bullying, threats, through false cases, arrests, custodial torture, the use of draconian laws like the UAPA.'
The Opposition is also expected to target the Eknath Shinde-led government on shifting of mega projects like Foxconn to Gujarat, according to political observers.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Haribhau Bagade was on Wednesday unanimously elected as the Speaker of the Maharashtra assembly.
The 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly constitutes the electoral college Rajya Sabha elections, scheduled on June 10, and a candidate needs 42 votes to win a seat.
The Congress-NCP will now hold talks with Shiv Sena in Mumbai to "finalise the architecture of alliance".
"People have asked us to sit in the opposition. The thought of trying to get into power doesn't even cross our minds. We will work to expand our base," he further said.
The ten trade unions are National Trades Union Congress, All India Trade Union Congress, Hind Mazdoor Sabha, Centre of Indian Trade Unions, All India United Trade Union Centre, Trade Union Coordination Centre, Self Employed Women's Association, All India Central Council of Trade Unions, Labour Progressive Federation and United Trade Union Congress.
Asked if the fear of possible defeat made him rethink of contesting from Madha, Pawar said, "I have successfully faced 14 elections. Do you think a 15th will deter me?"
'People have asked us to sit in the Opposition.'
"We will keep an eye on the situation in Maharashtra. Congress and NCP leaders will hold further talks on the future course of action," he added.
Thackeray accused the Eknath Shinde-led government of being ideologically bankrupt.
'Ajit Pawar's speech leaves no room for reconciliation.'
Tikait says PM Modi was supporter of MSP law when he was CM
Veteran legislator Ganpatrao Deshmukh on Sunday created history by winning his 11th assembly election.
Why are the poor turning Right instead of turning toward far-Left parties, ponders Pranab Bardhan.
Sharad Pawar reckons that the NCP has value as a united, going concern, not as a gaggle of leaders in search of followers, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
Here is the lowdown of the each state and parties.
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